


holding on tight to you

by tryingthymes



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Era, Fix-It, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Gen, Happy Ending, Healing, M/M, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Present Tense, Therapy Arc, TommyInnit-centric (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29849868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tryingthymes/pseuds/tryingthymes
Summary: A week trapped with Dream seems like a long time but it's only a blink in the span of the life Tommy has to look forward to.or; Tommy gets out of prison and the server finally begins to heal and move on.
Relationships: Dream SMP Ensemble & TommyInnit, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Sam | Awesamdude & TommyInnit
Comments: 6
Kudos: 59





	holding on tight to you

**Author's Note:**

> if i know one thing, it's how to ignore canon angst and write fluffy happy ending fics instead. 
> 
> i have a lot of ideas for this and i wrote it before tommy's stream yesterday (03/04) and even though it's still kinda rough and i wanted chapters to have lined up, i just... i know that i need this so i dunno, maybe other people need it, too. 
> 
> **chapter warnings:** mentions of exile arc and panic attacks, some spiraling, manipulative dream (but hopefully never to be written in this story again). lmk if i should add anything, please, and take care of yourselves <3

A week is a long fucking time. 

Days pass slow enough as is for Tommy, always running around looking for things to do, to keep himself busy. Days in this obsidian fucking box, surrounded by lava and oppressive heat and groaning Elder Guardians and fucking _Dream,_ might as well be crawling by. He wouldn't know. There's no goddamn clock because Dream, it turns out, kept throwing tantrums and chucking it into the lava. Sam stopped giving him new ones. Well deserved, Tommy thinks, except that now _he_ has no way to keep track of time either. At first, he'd tried to count it in a book by how often the heavy weight of mining fatigue settled in his bones; that got boring by the fourth tally mark. Next, he'd resorted to singing every song he could remember (which was a _lot,_ thanks Wilbur), repetitive or catchy or otherwise; partially because he knew roughly how many minutes they each lasted, partially to annoy Dream. … Okay so maybe it became _mostly_ to annoy Dream once Tommy realized how much he hated it. Tommy had latched onto that _quick_ seeing as it was gonna be one of the only ways he'd get through the week. If he let Dream have any fucking give, then he'd take and take until Tommy had nothing left. And like hell he was gonna let that happen _ever_ again. 

There is _one_ consistency and that's that Sam shows up twice a day. Tommy assumes it's once in the morning and once in the evening. Even if Tommy can't see him, hearing Sam's voice through the speakers hidden in the walls makes this whole thing a lot less awful. He delivers potatoes (fucking _raw_ potatoes) and reassures Tommy that he'll be out soon, and that they're so close to figuring out what happened, and to hang in there. Well no shit Tommy's gonna "hang in there." He just opened his hotel! The discs are in his enderchest, waiting to be played again. The server's finally fucking _free_ and Tommy has every intention of being a part of the celebrations. Pandora's Vault might be his own personal hell — burning bright hot lava, a cramped tight space, obsidian walls _why is it always obsidian and blackstone_ \- but it is not permanent. It is _not_ permanent. He just has to remind himself that he will be getting out. He will get to pull pranks with Tubbo again soon. He will get to harass Phil and Techno again soon. He will get to walk the Prime Path with Jack Manifold again. He has _everything_ to live for. Prison, for Tommy, is _not_ permanent.

He reminds himself of these things every day, every _hour,_ but it's easy sometimes to forget. Sometimes, Dream pushes just the right buttons and Tommy feels like he's back in exile, like he never left at all. It might be a simple comment about the beach party that no one showed up to (a stupid thing to be upset about, Tommy _knows_ that Dream sabotaged the invites). It might be as harsh as Dream crowding in too close, backing Tommy up against the lava. Just as often as Tommy reminds himself of what he has to live for, Dream reminds him of exile, of the Nether, of how much a pest he is and how he always ruins everything he touches and — Yeah. Some days are worse than others.

"Tommy!" Sam's voice calls and something about him sounds different this time.

Today, though? 

"Sam?" Tommy shouts back, despite his sore throat and his cracked lips. 

"Stand in the water, Tommy, in the corner," Sam tells him and, oh, it's _relief_ in his tone. 

Today is the best of them all.

Tommy can hardly believe it, doesn't want to get his hopes up, as he stumbles passed Dream. In all honesty, he was genuinely starting to feel well and proper stuck in here. It's all good now, though, it's fixed and he's — 

Dream grabs his wrist. 

Tommy yelps and pulls away, but mining fatigue and a diet of fucking vegetables and panic attacks every day has really taken it out of him. Dream's grip is tight, too tight, it reminds Tommy of the disc vault and Dream's hand on his shoulder and _put your things in the hole,_ and — 

" _Dream,_ " Sam's voice snarls, "let him _go._ " 

"You can't leave me here," Dream hisses, yanking Tommy closer, too close, "I will _never_ bring back anyone you care about if you leave me here." 

"We… we won't _need,_ " Tommy shudders, uses his free hand to shove _hard_ at Dream's shoulder. He breaks away and staggers back. " _You_ were the reason people kept dying." 

"Tommy —" Sam and Dream say it at the same time and Tommy listens to the former, to someone who is and has always truly been a friend, who can protect him, who he can trust. 

Tommy steps back into the pool in the corner, and says to Dream just in case he forgot it the first time around and because it's a cool fucking line, "it hasn't been an honor knowing you but it will be an honor forgetting you." 

The sharp sting of poison doesn't kill him immediately like it did the last time Tommy left this cell. Instant harming hits him next, like a ton of fucking bricks. The last thing he sees is Dream tearing his mask off; it's ridiculous that _Dream_ would have something as bright as _freckles_ but it's all Tommy can focus on. He barely notices the furious expression and the bared teeth. It's the first time Tommy has seen him without the mask on and it'll be the last. He really doesn't care.

Tommy gasps, bolting upright in the last bed he had slept in. His whole body _hurts_ and something wearing full netherite crashing into him really doesn't help. The smell of gunpowder frightens him for a moment, reminders of TNT and explosions and unfinished symphonies — but then, underneath it, the warm spice of redstone that tickles his nose and makes him want to sneeze. 

" _Sam?_ " Tommy croaks.

" _Tommy,_ " Sam says, with some desperation and some guilt but also… Sam pulls back and Tommy can guess the next words out of his mouth before Sam says them. "You made it. I'm so _proud_ of you." 

Tommy isn't sure whether he laughs or sobs. Maybe both. He'll tell everyone he laughed. Tommy's too big a man to cry. Nothing wrong with big men crying, he decides actually, as soon as Sam takes his gas mask off and reveals tears in his eyes. 

"You're safe now," Sam reassures him. "You're safe and okay and never going back in there. You'll never have to see him again." 

Tommy's exhausted, he can barely keep his head up, but his smile still comes easy. "We're free," he echoes his cheer from… from a month ago, now. 

" _You're_ free, Tommy." 

He has so much to do and there's so much he wants to say but he's finally out, he's finally free, he's finally safe. Sam's hands are holding onto his shoulders, but the weight is careful and Tommy knows Sam would let him go the second he wanted. He _doesn't_ want that, though. It's been a long while since Tommy has _wanted_ to be held but he knows he can trust Sam and he… he's so _tired._

"Can I…?" 

Sam is nodding before Tommy can even ask. "Yeah, of course, it's okay, you're okay." 

Sam lifts him up off the bed and Tommy automatically just sort of wraps his arms and legs around Sam so that he's easier to carry. He wonders for only a few seconds how Sam will even get them back to the prison’s lobby like this but he’s asleep before he can think anymore on it.

**Author's Note:**

> i have a lot of ideas for this but no scheduled updates, so apologies in advance for that lol.  
> also my r, e, and t keys are broken so i write on my phone which, as you can imagine, is pretty slow going kjasjhdf !!  
> plan to look forward to the Power of Friendship™, some good 'ol fiances content, a nice bit of qpr rep, and just all around feel-goods n_n


End file.
